Razing of town pool, Mixter Building, does not carry

Monday

May 20, 2013 at 10:00 PMMay 21, 2013 at 10:13 AM

By Michael D. Kane BANNER EDITOR

Voters on Monday purchased several utility vehicles to keep the town's fields and cemetery clean and authorized cameras for the schools, but they drew the line at spending $300,000 to raze the Helen C. Mixter Building and the Joseph Amello Town Pool.

Selectmen Chairman Kevin McCormick described the razing of the two buildings, both unused for several years, as the board's number one priority this year.

“The biggest thing is, it's a liability to the town,” McCormick said, noting it is known that people, likely teenagers, have entered the properties.

While Mixter has been secured, it is now believed people are entering through skylights on the roof, he said.

“The hole in the pool is 10-feet deep,” McCormick said, later saying there is no electricity in the Mixter building. “So the building is pitch dark,” he said.

McCormick also said tearing down the buildings is a matter “of town pride,” describing them as eyesores.

But the board could answer few of the voters' questions, including the cost to insure the buildings (the town's insurance needs are lumped into one account) and the cost to raze each one individually.

Razing the two buildings separately was not discussed, McCormick said. But some voters saw a difference in the two properties.

Ultimately, the vote was 49-44 in favor of the article to raze, but that was 13 votes shy of the required two-thirds needed to use money from the Stabilization Account.

Where that money came from was the crux of the Finance Committee's opposition, according to Finance Committee Patrick Crowley.

The town's Stabilization Account is one of the accounts the state allows the town to have in which money can be held over from year to year. Banks look at the account to assess interest rates when lending to the town. The expenditure would have left about $900,000 in the account.

“Stabilization, that's our rainy day account. That's for one-time, unforeseen events,” Crowley said, likening its use to that of the response to the 2008 ice storm. “It's the wrong source of funding.”

Crowley said the town would pay up to two-and-a-half times more to raze Mixter a private buyer because the town would have to pay prevailing wage. As a result, not having a structure on the property if it were to be sold added little resale value to the property, he said.

“It is a very labor intensive job. It would be much cheaper for a private entity to do this,” he said.

There was some discussion to indicate that opponents considered the two properties should be dealt with separately.

While the pool is surrounded by park land, and almost certainly would be used for recreation, Mixter is in a residential neighborhood, resident Richard Johnson said.

“Mixter could be sold, and if it is sold, it could be demolished cheaper,” Johnson said. “I recommend defeating this article and doing the pool separately.

McCormick disagreed, noting selling the property could take a lengthy amount of time. First, selectmen would have to debate and vote to do it. That would require public feedback. Then the matter would have to be brought to town meeting.

“I would say the likelihood of selling Mixter, even in the remote future, is pretty small,” he said.

Selectmen and Crowley also refuted the idea floated by School Committee member Richard Shaw that the Parks Facilities Commission was now engaged in a comprehensive review of the parks in town that may include a renovation of the pool. Shaw called for the town to wait until that study was complete before removing the pool.

“We are looking at everything, but none of it includes remodeling the pool,” Selectman and Parks Facilities Commissioner Christopher Rucho said. “There is nothing we can do with that pool except knock it down. We cannot rebuild it.”

“It was never discussed,” Crowley, also a Parks Facilities Commissioner, said.

After the meeting, McCormick and Town Administrator Leon Gaumond Jr. said the two buildings would be on a future selectmen's agenda.

“It was always up to the voters,” Gaumond said. “It was whatever they wanted to do. I'll make sure this is on a selectmen's agenda very soon.”

Other articlesVoters also approved $88,500 to repair "structural deficiencies" at the middle high school that are being blamed for leaks around the media center and main foyer. A larger project, which also called for roof repairs, was held off until it can be determined if there is a warranty on the roof, which is less than eight years old, Crowley said.

"If there is no warranty, we can expect that money to be back before us in October," he said.

Voters approved several spending articles for town equipment wrth little or no discussion. They included: A lawn mower for $17,000; $15,000 for bleachers to be used at the town's parks and fields; a tractor for $71,000; a street sweeper for for $185,000; and cameras and door locks for the schools for $42,000.

Check this week's Banner, or check back on weeklybanner.com, for more town meeting coverage.

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